According to Agoramoorthy (2015), transgendered people were originally treated as demigods in Indian religion and culture. However, with Britain’s colonization of India in the eighteenth century, transgender individuals were blacklisted and thought of as criminals in society (Agoramoorthy, 2015). In 2014, however, India’s supreme court finally ruled that transgender people must have equal opportunities in society (Agoramoorthy, 2015). Unfortunately, prejudice already has its roots in Indian society and the ruling was not enough to completely change the way transgender people were treated in India. While the rule makes certain that transgender individuals  are able to have equal opportunities, there is no law to change the way that everyone else acts towards them.

To try and counter these stigmas against transgender individuals, India recently approved The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill. According to Sengar (2019), this bill was designed to provide social empowerment to transgender individuals by defining their identity and their rights clearly. However, the bill requires transgendered individuals to go through invasive screening process to get certified as a transgender person, which violates a person’s right to privacy (Sengar, 2019). I agree with those who think the bill was passed to quickly and that there could have been a lot more packed into it. For example, the bill only defines all transgender people as the same, when there are a lot more gender identities to be outlined. Additionally, it fails to mention what opportunities it will create for a transgender individuals. For example, it does not provide examples of how defining what a transgender person is will help the stigma against these group of people. While I found the bill lacking, a positive takeaway is that the Indian government is doing something and making an effort to improve the well-being of transgender people.

These efforts have not been in vain because it is becoming a lot more common to hear stories about transgender individuals being a part of society rather than staying on the edges of it. For example, this year India’s Kumbh Mela festival featured its first ever group of transgender saints (CBC News, 2019). Kumbh  Mela is a Hindu festival that happens four times in every twelve years where pilgrims come to wash away their sins in sacred waters (CBC News, 2019). It is a very influential festival and the fact that transgendered people were invited and welcomed to participate was a very big moment for the transgender community. According to CBC News, the transgender saints were looked upon with respect and given the same treatment as everyone else (CBC News, 2019). Additionally, the Kumbh Mela community is starting to believe that transgender individuals are taking the place India’s once third gender, hijras, in Hinduism. This gives off the implication that more and more people, especially those that practice religion, are starting to look at transgender individuals the way they did before Britain’s colonization, or as the demigods that they used to base their religion off of. While India still has a long way to go before transgender individuals are finally seen as and treated with the same respect as everyone else in the community, they are definitely taking a step in the right direction for equality.  

Works Cited

Agoramoorthy, G., & Hsu, M. J. (2015). Living on the societal edge: India’s transgender realities. Journal of religion and health, 54(4), 1451-1459.

India’s Kumbh Mela festival features 1st ever transgender congregation | CBC News. (2019).Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/transgender-people-participate-in-kumbh-mela-1.5028423

Sengar, S. (2019). Government Approves Bill To Empower Transgenders In India, But Community Remains Apprehensive. Retrieved from https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/government-approves-bill-to-empower-transgenders-in-india-but-community-remains-apprehensive-371007.html